The most obvious difference between a portable and a window air conditioner is that a window unit is a single box that sits in your window while a portable unit has a box that sits on the floor with an exhaust vent that connects through a window ceiling wall or door.
Portable air conditioner vs window unit.
Since the outer unit is located outside there will be less heat in the room to deal with.
If you can use a window unit do it.
Portable air conditioners are usually around 100 more expensive than window air conditioners of the same cooling capacity.
Window air conditioner efficiency window air conditioners are generally more affordable than portable units as they take less btus.
The bulk of the air conditioner is placed outside the window on a windowsill or mounted to the wall.
A portable unit on the other hand utilizes an exhaust pipe which funnels the air out of your window.
For the most part when it comes to portable ac vs window ac the window units win.
Electricity states a window unit uses anywhere from 500 to 1440 watts to run while a 2 5 ton central unit about the size for a typical 1 500 to 2 000 square foot home uses about 3 500.
Also because portable air conditioners are generally larger and start at a higher btu h they will be more expensive than window units with a lower btu h.
Since the main body of a portable air conditioner stays inside the room with you it has some inefficiencies when compared to windows units.
Portable units are usually used in situations that a window unit won t work.
To make sure your window ac works properly you need to clean it.
When it comes to portable vs.
A window unit uses chemicals called refrigerants that absorb the heat from the air when it passes over a set of coils resulting in chilled indoor air.
Portable ac units hover around 70 db while window ac units tend to be near 50 db which is one eighth quieter.
A 12 000 btu portable ac will cool roughly as much as a 6000 btu window ac.
Practicality of a window vs portable air conditioner window air conditioners window air conditioners are often quite large.
You didn t mention that portable ac units are very inefficient at cooling compared to a window unit.
That s because window air conditioners are usually much quieter than portable air conditioners.
Pacs need to vent the heat they remove through a hose and out the window.
However because these units aren t going to be outside exposed to the elements they tend to have a longer lifespan to return that initial investment.